Quantitative Research

Benefits of Quantitative Research

• Finding exact numbers
• Monitoring performance
• Finding the ROI of an operation
• Finding a percentage

Most used Quantitative Methods

Some of the most used qualitative methods are discussed below.

Analytics

Analytics data helps you find out what people are doing with your live product. Things such as: where are they coming from, what they click, what they ignore, how much time they spend on a page or on a video, when they leave.

A/B Testing

A/B testing is used for comparing 2 design options. This means creating 2 different UI live versions and experimenting with different features. In the end, after you compare the results, you can find out which one did better. For example, you can create 2 different designs with a call to action button and track which design gets more clicks, or which image

Card Sorting

This test can be conducted both in-person or online. It helps to find out which category or group a certain element/page belongs to in your users' minds. So when they navigate your website, they don’t feel lost and frustrated about not knowing where things are.

Tree Testing

This method is useful in identifying if an information architecture structure matches people’s expectations.

Surveys or Questionnaires

The purpose of surveys and questionnaires is to gather information about your users, their attitudes, and behaviors. A questionnaire is any written set of questions, while a survey is both the set of questions and the process of collecting, and analyzing the responses from those questions.

Desirability Studies

Helps measure the quality of a product — such as aesthetic appeal, brand strength, tone of voice. Example: You show an image with your product and then you’ll ask your interviewees to describe the design by selecting options from a list of descriptive words.

Eye-tracking Testing

Eyetracking studies require special equipment that tracks users’ eyes as they move across an interface. Trends among users will start to emerge and you can tell which elements of the page attract people’s attention or are distracting, if users miss important elements, and so on.

Characteristics of Quantitative Research

Some of quantitative research characteristics are extended sample sizes, reliable results, reusable results, structured research techniques, close-ended questions, numeric results, generalization of outcome, prior knowledge.

Exercise: Making a survey

For this exercise we will choose the "survey" quantitative research method. Lots of us never did a survey, or even didn't know that this was an option for UX research, so this is a good opportunity to learn a bit about how to do a survey. We will use https://www.surveymonkey.com for this exercise. First, you will need to make an account. They have a free option, so no worry. Then just click "Create survey" to start.

SurveyMonkey: The World's Most Popular Free Online Survey Tool

As a beginner, it's good to choose a template and go from there. This will save you a lot of time and you will be able to focus on what's more important which is writing the right questions, and not on learning how everything on the website works.

The website will give you various options to choose from. For this exercise we will go with the "Customer Satisfaction Survey Template".

The template has many type of questions models: from matrix rating scales, to sliders, ranking, checkbox, star rating and so on. After you see the preview and you decide to use this one, just click "use this template" on the bottom right corner.

All the text and formats are easy to edit. Just click the edit button and write your own questions. Make sure that your questions make sense with the answer options the users will have.

Once you are done with editing the template, you will have to choose what buttons will be available for the users, like "Done", "Previous" or "Next".

Then go to "Collect Responses", in the toolbar menu. You have 2 options, one is to copy the link of the survey and share the link yourself to your users, email list, social media. And second option is using the SurveyMoneky global audience and have access to very accurate options.

When you are using SurveyMonekey audience, you have send your survey to a really focused market, "create" the ideal user avatar you want: gender, religion, household income, job type and so on. This is a paid option, so keep that in mind.

Once people start responding to your survey, you will be able to track all the information. All this is on the "Analyze Results". You have access to diverse options: question summaries insights, data trends, individual responses.

Conclusion

There are many advantages of quantitative research, but if you want to get the best results, it's best to pair it with qualitative research. Find as much as you can about all the methods, and use whichever method is better fitted for your project.